LOCAL NEWS

DETROIT October 29 2016: Tonight is the start of the legendary Devil’s Night in Detroit. It’s had bad years and good years, relatively speaking of course. It’s started off slow tonight with only a couple of trash fires, a kitchen fire and a dead body in a basement. Not exactly what you’d expect from a legendary night. There’s a number of reasons why I’m guessing, citizens having had enough and forming groups of Angels Night volunteers, a neighborhood watch movement started a few years ago. In addition to the volunteers, the Detroit Police Department has a number of units out assigned to task forces created to stop arsons in the city. That’s all well and good, it’s better to have no fires that box alarms dropping every 2 minutes, which has happened.

Day 1 of the 2016 Devil’s Night ended kind of, what’s the word, flaccid? No, that’s probably wrong but it certainly wasn’t as bad as previous years. I was able to hold on until around 4:00am, then passed out. A couple of fires broke out but certainly nothing major. Alex over at @FireandWeather was able to post a couple of short Periscope videos while prowling Detroit streets. You can find his Periscope account here. A fire on Rochelle & Celestine and another on Maiden & Roseberry, both on Detroit’s NE side. You can hear firefighters sigh of relief all the way here. Previous Devil’s Nights saw many more fires so a breather; not unlike last years, is welcome in all the firehouses. Motor City Muckraker is reporting 11 dwellings and 2 building fires last night/this morning. On to Day/Night/Morning 2.

“The number of fires on Devils’ Night have been steadily declining since the 1990s. Last year, the city had fewer fires on Devils’ Night than any year since the 1970s.” – Motor City Muckraker

DETROIT: October 29, 2016 – Detroit Police Chief James Craig took a few moments to reflect on the life and service of Officer Myron Jarrett today, speaking of Officer Jarrett’s commitment to the City of Detroit, it’s citizens and to the Detroit Police Department. Officer Jarrett was an 8 year veteran of the Detroit Police Department spending the last 3 years as a member of the 12th Precinct’s patrol division. Officer Jarrett has 4 children with the oldest just returning from a deployment overseas while serving with the US military.

Chief Craig mentioned how respected Officer Jarrett was within the department and in the community. Coworkers had given Officer Jarrett the nickname of “salt and pepper” due to his graying hair. Officer Jarrett was a nice man, respected professional police officer who served the City of Detroit with distinction and never had a bad day. He was always in a good mood, loved his job and called his citation book “My Man Purse”. He enjoyed writing traffic citations because he believed it led to safer streets.

Chief Craig also recognized the multiple agencies who assisted the Detroit Police in the capture of Officer Jarrett’s murderer, Steven Patrick Guzina.

Detroit has lost two officers in the last two months. Sgt (Captain) Kenneth Steil in September and Officer Myron Jarrett this month, October 2016. Hearts are heavy in and outside the City of Detroit, we once again lost one our finest.

There will eventually be a fund set up for Officer Jarrett’s family and when that happens, I’ll be posting it here. Please keep Officer Jarrett’s family in your prayers. Another heartbreaking day in Detroit.

Steven Patrick Guzina Is In Custody

UPDATE: Stephen Patrick Guzina was taken into custody behind the Galaxy Coney Island at Grand River and Schaefer. An off duty law enforcement officer spotted the suspect and directed Detroit Police to Guzina’s location. He was taken into custody without incident. Guzina, 54, of Lincoln Park, recently separated from his restauranteur wife who owns and operates the Tijuana’s Mexican Kitchen in Dearborn.

DETROIT – Friday October 28 2016: DPD units responded to Monica & Puritan on Detroit’s west side for a traffic incident at around 1015PM Friday evening. During the arrest process of a 49 year old suspect, 40 year old Detroit Police Officer Myron Jarrett of the 12th Precinct was struck by Guzina’s Dodge Ram Van traveling at a high rate of speed. Both Guzina and the handcuffed 49 year old suspect escaped the scene. The Dodge Ram remains on the scene. Officer Jarrett was conveyed in critical condition to Sinai-Grace Hospital by other police officers on the scene. Officer Myron Jarrett, an 8 year veteran of the DPD from the 12th Precinct later died of his injuries.

DPD Officer Myron Jarrett

UPDATED: The suspect has been identified as Steven Patrick Guzina, a 54 year old male from Lincoln Park. Guzina was also wearing a baseball cap and dark coat. Search for the officer’s killer continues.

The area surrounding Monica & Puritan was locked down and a perimeter has been established. A DPD police K-9 (K9-3) was on scene helping in the search. The Michigan State Police air unit Trooper 2 is also orbiting the area. There is no description of the Dodge Ram’s driver although officers on scene do have the registered owners description and photo on scene. The Dodge Ram is registered out of Lincoln Park and remains on the scene. The escaped handcuffed suspect is described as a 49 year old B/M wearing a Detroit Tiger baseball cap and blue jeans. It is unknown if the handcuffed suspect just ran from the scene or was ejected from the police unit during the collision. (Via Radio Transmissions)

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Detroit Police Department, Officer Myron Jarrett’s family and friends.

DETROIT October 27 2016: Detroit Fire Departments Ladder Truck 18 was involved in an injury motor vehicle accident today. The particulars are unknown but occupants of the civilian vehicle involved were transported by DFD DEMS Medics to Detroit Receiving Hospital. The driver of Ladder Truck 18 was also conveyed to a local hospital by DEMS Medic 16. Local Detroit Fire Photographer @FireAndWeather was on the scene and reported the injuries didn’t appear too serious, but both vehicles were out of service. Ladder Truck 18 had passenger side damage. Initial reports by companies on the scene said no firefighters were injured.

Detroit Fire’s Ladder Truck 18 was responding to a reported dwelling fire on 7 Mile & Goddard, an address known to this author as being the scene of a previous false alarm. Companies on scene reported, once again, there was no such address and reported a false alarm.

@DetroitScanner A hair-ball calls in a false alarm and someone ends up collateral damage.

DETROIT October 25 2016: What started off as a crazy day for Detroit Firefighters on Tuesday ended up going full-tilt nuts in the evening. Detroit Fire’s 6th & 9th Battalions were dispatched to Detroit’s east side on reports of multiple dwellings on fire. The 6th Battalion made the fire scene at Molena & Van Dyke at around 11:00PM Tuesday evening. At 11:10PM Chief 6 requested the Detroit Police Department on scene for traffic control. 14 minutes later at 11:24PM Battalion Chief 9 reported firefighters were being attacked by a knife wielding man and they needed a scout FAST!. (FULL Audio of Incident Above) Numerous requests were made until the Detroit Police had a unit available. A couple of different precincts attempted to get police units to the scene but Detroit is a busy place at night, police units come at a premium. The police eventually showed up and the scene became secure, crickets were cricketing again….for a little while anyway.

Meanwhile, a short distance away, local Fire Photography “buff” Alex (@FireAndWeather) and a friend were enjoying the sights and sounds of the fire scene. Alex and his friend were doing what fire photographers do, taking photographs and video of Detroit firefighters in action. Unfortunately, for Alex’s friend, he caught the attention of our knife wielding homeowner on a tear and became the prey. The East Side Slasher came after “the friend” and chased him down the sidewalk, screaming obscenities as he went. The “friend” can be seen doing a pretty good “moon walk” while the knife wielding perp chased him down the sidewalk and away from the scene. The whole episode was captured on Periscope by Alex on is #Periscope account, @AlexFireChaser. Thankfully, Alex’s friend is fleet of foot and was able to extricate himself from the situation without a poke.

Firefighters were also under attack by this East Side Slasher and throughout Alex’s video the knife wielding knucklehead can be heard yelling at anyone and anything within shouting distance. At one point, he can be heard screaming at a tree “Whatcha gonna do! Whatcha gonna do!”. By this time, the DPD scout had left the scene to deal with something a little more pressing and the situation once again became out of control. A second request for a DPD scout was made by Battalion Chief 6 at 11:49PM and 43 minutes later the police once again saved the day, or morning as it were. A handgun was also recovered by firefighters and turned over to the DPD at that time.

It’s said the attacker was later arrested by the Detroit Police and given a nice warm bed and a cup of cocoa at the Detroit Detention Center.

Thankfully no one was hurt and everyone went home happy…except for Alex’s friend who will NEVER go on a fire scene with Alex again.